Afterward, as promised, Alison walked Jack over to a different tree—one within sight of the Erassvas—and sat him down.
And with Draycos standing mostly silently at Jack's side, he told her the whole story.
"I'll be fraggled," Alison murmured when he'd finished. "You two have definitely been through the meat grinder on this one."
"And it's not over yet," Jack said, studying her face. But she was every bit as good at masking her thoughts and feelings as he was. Her face said exactly what she wanted it to, which in this case was basically nothing.
"So why haven't you taken this to the Internos government?" she asked. "The Malison Ring's a pretty big group, but StarForce could eat them for breakfast."
"That would be great," Jack agreed. "If we could trust them. If I were Neverlin, I'd have made sure I got to a few of the top people in StarForce, the Internos Police, and maybe even the government itself before I started this whole thing. Nothing big or fancy or obvious, but enough to cover my back."
Alison made a face. "You may be right," she admitted. "Though if it makes you feel any better, I doubt the whole Malison Ring is involved. Frost is only—let's see; only the fifth or possibly fourth in the chain of command. General Aram Davi is the man in charge, and I haven't heard his name even mentioned. Best guess is that Frost is pulling this underneath Davi's nose."
"Rather like Neverlin was doing," Jack said, nodding. "It would certainly be nice if that was the case. Might limit his manpower even more."
"Not to mention his resources," Alison agreed. "What I don't get is this business of cozying up to the Valahgua. Aren't they worried these guys will turn around and bite them once the K'da and Shontine are out of the way?"
Jack shrugged. "Maybe Neverlin thinks he can handle them."
"Or perhaps he does not truly understand the threat," Draycos added. "I have met Neverlin only twice, but he does not seem to plan sufficiently far ahead."
"More likely you've just managed to catch him by surprise," Alison said. "Normally, Neverlin's the type who plans everything out to the last detail, with contingency plans already prepped for anything that might go wrong."
"And you know all this how?" Jack asked.
"My dad did a scam once on one of the Braxton Universis board members," she explained. "I remember him saying at the time that Neverlin was the one he was going to really have to keep an eye on."
"Then we're back to him thinking he can handle the Valahgua," Jack concluded. "He must have one beaut of a trick up his sleeve. Especially since he's seen their Death weapons in action and knows what they can do."
"Which brings us to the other really big question mark," Alison said. "Namely, what the blazes are the Valahgua doing in the Orion Arm in the first place?"
"They wish to destroy us, of course," Draycos said, his tail lashing the air restlessly.
"I'm sure they do," Alison said. "But way out here, this far from their main stomping grounds? What did you do to these guys, anyway?"
"We did nothing," Draycos insisted, his voice dropping ominously. "They attacked us."
"Easy, Draycos," Jack soothed. "I'm sure she didn't mean anything by that."
"Or maybe she did," Alison retorted. "Round-trip, we're talking about a four-year mission here. Nobody does that unless they have a very good reason for it."
"Maybe they just don't like leaving loose ends," Jack said, keeping a wary eye on Draycos. The dragon still looked offended, but he had his annoyance under control again. Three and a half months of dealing with Uncle Virge's snide comments had apparently done a good job of thickening his skin. "Or maybe they think the K'da and Shontine are planning to regroup here and come back after them."
"If so, they are wrong," Draycos said. "We have left our homes forever. Here is now where we shall live, or where we shall die."
"Still seems like overkill to me," Alison said. "But I suppose that's not something we need to worry about right now."
"No, what we need to worry about is getting off this rock alive," Jack agreed. "Do you really have people coming for you? Or was that just some scam?"
Alison's lip twitched. "Oh, they're coming," she said sourly. "Problem is, they could get here anywhere from now to two weeks from now."
"Terrific," Jack growled. "And you were planning to mention this when?"
"I wasn't, because it wasn't any of your business," Alison said. "I was expecting you to just drop me and take off."
Jack made a face. But in all fairness, she had told him he didn't have to stay with her. "Yeah, whatever. So bottom line is that they probably won't get here until it's all over."
"Basically," she conceded. "Which means it's up to you and me and Draycos."
"And Uncle Virge," Jack reminded her.
"Assuming the ship survived," Alison agreed. "Incidentally, not that it matters right now, but I don't think Uncle Virgil could have pulled off a personality imprint like that with a P/S/8. That's got to be at least a ten or eleven in there."
Jack shrugged. "He upgraded everything else on the Essenay. Why not the computer system, too?"
"Point," she said. "So if the Essenay doesn't come for us, we'll need to think about a place to hole up for a couple of weeks."
"You speak of the rocky area at the western end of the forest?" Draycos asked.
"Unless you saw something better as we were coming in, I'd say that's our best bet," Alison said. "The problem is that we have a lot of bodies to hide. And a lot of associated mouths to feed."
She looked over at the Erassvas huddled together around their trees. "Unless you're ready to cut them loose."
"No," Jack said firmly.
"It would be easier for us," Alison persisted. "And in all honesty, it might be better for them."
"What, getting abandoned in the woods with a lot of predators they've probably never even seen before?" Jack growled. "How does that qualify as good for them?"
"Because it would get them out of the sights of the predators with guns," Alison said bluntly. "Once we aren't with them anymore, what reason would Frost's men have to bother them?"
"Because they're K'da," Jack said.
Alison raised her eyebrows. "Are they?"
"Of course they are," Jack said. But even as he said it he could feel the sand sliding out from under his argument. After all, Draycos himself had called them animals. Did the physical form matter when the mind wasn't there?
He set his jaw. No. Whether they were as alive and intelligent as Draycos or not, the Phookas still deserved to be treated with dignity. "They are," he repeated firmly. "Besides, we've also dragged the Erassvas out here. We just going to abandon them, too?"
"Well, there's definitely no reason the Malison Ring would care about them," Alison pointed out, looking at Draycos. "You're the local expert, Draycos. Are these K'da, or aren't they?"
Draycos turned to look at the Phookas as they dug for grubs. "They have the form," he said, his tail lashing again. "But for the rest . . . I do not know what could have happened to make them this way."
"Something in the food, probably," Jack said. "It's the same biomass the Erassvas eat from, after all, and they're nearly as oblivious as the Phookas are."
"Though that predator—what did you call it again?" Alison asked.
"A Kodiak," Jack said. "I think it's a kind of bear."
"I notice that Kodiak didn't seem especially lethargic," she said, her voice suddenly thoughtful. "And he's eating from the same biomass. Draycos, you called your relationship with Jack a symbiosis. Does that mean you take nutrients from him?"